Despite early injuries, the Charlotte Hornets are off on the right foot.
The Charlotte Hornets are four games into the season with a 3-1 record. The Hornets have beaten three teams. Two teams were the Bucks and the 76ers, teams that the Hornets needed to beat in order to show that the roster turnover was not disasterous.
Better yet they beat the Miami Heat, a division opponent who will be one of those teams vying with the Hornets for playoff spots not reserved for the Cavs, the Atlantic Champion, and probably the Boston Celtics.
The Celtics were the one team that beat the Hornets. They did so behind a barrage of shooting that there really is no defense. That marks one of the important aspect of each Hornets victory. Defense. Two games ofRoy Hibbertholding down the paint. Four games ofMichael Kidd-Gilchristand four games of flexible team defense have shown the road ahead for the Hornets.
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Cody Zellerwent from not quite a stretch four to the energy post guy off the bench. He even put in some work as a starting centerlast night. In the new NBA salary environment, Zeller now owns a higher salary next year thanKemba Walker.
Walker has been on point, but we expected that.Nicolas Batumis moving in the right direction, especially last night. These are not surprises.Jeremy Lambis hurt and invisible, these are not surprises.
The key issue was depth. Zeller has answered some of that question.Frank Kaminskyhas answered some of that question.Ramon Sessionsled the team in assists last night, and that should be a big relief since he is replacingJeremy Lin.
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The Hornets have the potential to finally show some of the true Steve Clifford formula. Clifford wants to play the open formula from last season with enough defense to make it through the playoffs. Hibbert can be a game changer if healthy. Kidd-Gilchrist is a point suppression machine when healthy.
The Hornets face Lin on Friday with the rest of the Brooklyn Nets. They need to win that one, but the execution looks much better than I feared.
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